The Lonely Orbits of Stars
by 96 Hubbles
Summary: The tale of Skywise and the rest of the tribe immediately after Madcoil's attack.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own Elfquest or take any credit for the creativity behind it. The characters are the works of Wendy and Richard Pini (and their fellow artists at Warp graphics) and I am borrowing them purely out of love. Please do not take the quality (or lack thereof) of this story as a reflection on the creations of others. _

**The Lonely Orbits of Stars**

They traveled through the daytime. None of them spoke and though the morning sun was already hot on their backs, Skywise shivered.

_Either do as I say or send me to Joyleaf__'__s side! I don__'__t care which! (1)_

With his head throbbing in time to Starjumper's paws striking the ground, Bearclaw's words ran in endless circles through his mind like a wolf cub playing chase-tail, but he couldn't get a grasp on them. He couldn't get a grasp on anything. He knew the tribe had to be warned, but if Treestump and One-Eye hadn't been with him, he didn't know how he'd be moving forward.

_The others must go back, Bearclaw, I agree! But I__'__m coming with you! You can__'__t stop me!_

He swayed off center as slightly as Starjumper leaped a small stream and found himself actually having to concentrate his entire will on keeping hold of his wolf friend's fur. All focus went to his hands and thighs; where he was going and why, who he was with, even thoughts of the wolf he was riding - all retreated behind one simple demand: hold on.

_Treestump, if we don__'__t come back, you are chief! Take the tribe far away from here._

What had Cutter meant? Where are we going? Why are we riding away? Brother? Brother!

_If we don__'__t come back__…_

Ground and sky tilted wildly and the last sound he heard before darkness overtook him was Starjumper's worried whine as he slid off the wolf's back.

_-x-_

For the span of a handful of heartbeats he floated on a sea of blessed unawareness. Trees appeared before his eyes, but they held no significance. His name was gone, but it did not matter because he was ignorant to the fact that he even had or should need one. A wonderful coolness descended on his forehead and he sighed with relief. His gaze took in a dark green hat.

"Cub? Are you awake?" _One-Eye, _his mind supplied. As he watched, his companion wet his hand in the stream flowing next to them and then used it to brush Skywise's hair back. _*Skywise? Can you hear me?* _the older elf asked, sending this time.

"How is he, One-Eye?" he heard a voice say from somewhere behind him. It was Treestump. He sounded anxious, distracted, and even though he was out of Skywise's line of sight, the younger elf could tell he was circling around them, eyes alert for movement. The wolves too were wary; even Starjumper was watching the woods when not glancing at his elf-friend with a questioning whimper.

_They__'__re keeping watch_, Skywise realized. _Something__'__s after us. _But he was too dazed to remember what.

"One… One-Eye? Treestump?" Stars, why did his voice sound so weak? He tried to lift his head, but the sudden lurch of vision and accompanying turning-over of his stomach told him that that was a very bad idea.

"Easy now, cub. Let us help," Treestump told him as he knelt down behind Skywise and lifted his head gently while One-Eye cupped a handful of water from the stream and held it to his mouth, doing it several times until Skywise had had his fill. Once he was done, Starjumper butted in to sniff his elf-friend in examination, finishing up with a few anxious lick's to Skywise's face.

" 'm all right, Starjumper. Everything's all right," he mumbled, instinctively needing to reassure his wolf-friend. He tried clumsily to reach up and scratch the wolf's favourite spot behind the ear, but he was so tired. He could feel his eyelids drifting closed again.

"No, cub, wake up," Treestump ordered.

"Wha…" his voice failed him. He swallowed and tried again. "What…hap…What happened?"

One-Eye took out his knife and cut off a dangling piece of his torn leathers. "Don't you remember, cub?" he asked as he dipped the torn piece in the stream and used it to gently pat at Skywise's face.

"No, I - " Skywise started to answer, but then stopped with a gasp as it all came flooding back. "Oh, High Ones, no!" he moaned. Treestump's arms held him tighter and One-Eye and all three wolves moved in closer, touching him, forming a protective circle around him, all sharing comfort as the three relived the previous night's devastation.

_-x-_

Eventually they helped Skywise to the base of a tree so they could all take a respite under some shade. The desperate urge to keep going, to warn the tribe, was still driving them, but the wolves were thirsty and even Treestump realized they needed to rest. So the two elder elves sat on either side of their wounded companion while One-Eye's Smoketreader went to hunt for the group and the other two wolves guarded them. Skywise gratefully rested his head against Treestump's shoulder at the other elf's urging and they sat together silently for some time, each subdued by their own pain and shock. Tribe members died, one here, one there - they were all used to that, though it hurt every time. This time, however… five slaughtered at once -_ five_ - with the fate of two more still unknown… it was a disaster like none of them could remember, and it secretly frightened Skywise when he thought of how it was going to affect the tribe.

_We should howl, _Skywise thought. His soul ached for the release of the familiar ritual, but he also knew it was too soon. A howl was for when a crisis was over, and this wasn't, not by a long hunt. And even when it was, the tribe should be together to share their grief.

"How are we ever going to tell them?" he asked his two companions.

They had no answer.

_-x-_

They had eaten the ravvit Smoketreader had caught and the sun had moved well past the highest point in the sky when Treestump began to move restlessly.

"How do you feel, lad?" he asked, turning to Skywise. "Do you think you can ride?"

"Don't worry about me, Treestump. I won't slow you down anymore." But when they helped him stand, he immediately paled and his knees buckled under him.

"Your Foggycoat is wounded, Treestump," One-Eye said. "You could take Smoketreader and ride ahead, while I ride behind Skywise on Starjumper." (2)

Treestump was clearly tempted, but in the end shook his head. "No. If Madcoil is tracking us, I won't leave the two of you alone, especially when one of you is injured."

"If Madcoil comes upon us, three won't be much more help than two, and if we're all killed, then the tribe won't know what happened or what threatens," One-Eye argued.

"Strongbow will make sure the look-outs are in the trees like they always are. They'll be watching for trouble, even if they won't know what's coming. That's all we can hope for. No, we'll ride together for now. I'll only leave you if I absolutely have to," Treestump decided. "We'll need to ride hard, though," the older elf went on. "I'm sorry about that, cub," he said to Skywise. "I know your wounds need better seeing to than we can do on the run, but…"

"It's all right, Treestump. I can hold on till we get back to the holt, then R - " he broke off abruptly, horrified. He'd been about to say Rain could look at them.

But of course he couldn't. Rain was gone.

"I'm sorry, that was stupid. I… I didn't mean to…" he whispered hoarsely, unable to look at them.

One-Eye's arm was already around him, helping him stand, and Treestump placed a comforting hand on his back. The blond elf swallowed hard and when he spoke his voice was just as hoarse as Skywise's was. "Don't take on so, cub. Rain and the others… it's something we're all going to have to get used to."

Skywise nodded miserably and they helped him onto Starjumper's back. On top of everything else, he realized, they hadn't just lost their most gentle pack brother - the tribe was also now without its healer. _What if Cutter or Bearclaw come back injured? _he asked himself. _What if little Dart gets sick, or something happens to Rainsong__'__s cub? _

_Rainsong. _Another stab went through Skywise's heart. _Rain had been so eager to see her cub. How will she take it so close to her time?_

He felt One-Eye get on behind him and wrap his arms around his waist. Starjumper made no complaint at the extra weight, but kept trying to turn his head back to make sure his elf-friend was all right.

"Lean against me if you need to," One-Eye told him_. *And not just for the journey home, cub. I know it__'__s in our natures to lick our wounds in private, but don__'__t grieve alone. We all need each other now.*_

_*Thanks, One-Eye. I won__'__t.*_

* * *

><p>1) The first three italicized lines are quoted directly from Elf quest #4 - Wolfsong. (Issue number may differ depending on edition you have, so I used the one on the official Elfquest website.)<p>

2) I know Lionskin is Treestump's wolf during the Original Quest, but I figure at least one of might have lost a wolf friend in the intervening time between this point and that.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2**_

Skywise would remember little of their arrival other than as a swirling flurry of motion and noise. After riding through the day and ensuing night, stopping for only brief moments at a time to snatch a hurried drink or let the wolves catch their breath, he was shuddering with fatigue by the time they rode into the Holt just before dawn on the second day after the attack. Barely conscious, he pitched forward and nearly went head over heels over the wolf's neck when Starjumper staggered to a halt. Gentle hands helped him off his wolf-friend's back and lead him over to sit beneath the Father Tree while someone else pushed a full waterskin into his hands. Holding the skin in shaking arms, he drank deeply, even frantically; he never imagined water could taste so good! He couldn't stop drinking to answer the voices that suddenly were coming from every direction.

"What's going on?"

"Lifemate, are you all right? What's happened?"

"Treestump is calling a council."

"There's only the three of them."

"Where's Bearclaw?"

"Was it the humans?"

"Maybe Treestump and One-Eye were only sent to bring Skywise back and the others are still fighting."

"What happened to them? Where are the others? Why isn't Father with them?" _Pike! _Skywise's brain finally registered.

Redlance approached. "Easy, Skywise," he cautioned, reaching to take the waterskin away, "You'll make yourself sick."

Nightfall was quickly beside him. "His side is bleeding," she said, and Skywise glanced down. She was right; the wound must have re-opened with all the riding. "Are you hurt anywhere else, Skywise?"

"Head," was all he could say.

She removed his faceguard and winced at the gash on his forehead. Tenderly she brushed her fingers over his skull, stopping at his sharp intake of breath when she found a sore spot.

"You've got a knot the size of a redbird's egg back here," she told him.

"Rainsong can help, at least with the gashes," Woodlock said, joining them. "She knows some of Rain's poultices and how to wrap a wound."

"Treestump is calling a council," Redlance said. "He wants everyone not on look-out to gather in front of the Father Tree. Rainsong can treat him here while Treestump tells us what happened."

In the end though, it wasn't Rainsong who tended him. She was just waddling up when One-Eye took the poultice and wrap from her. "Go on, lass," he told her gently. "You three as well," he said to the others. "I'll do this. You need to hear what Treestump is going to say."

His head clearing a little now that he was no longer on the back of a moving wolf, Skywise saw the sudden look of worry on Rainsong's face. Instinctively, her hand came to rest on her swollen belly and she glanced back at them as her mate tried to lead her away to a more comfortable spot.

_Only another moon more and Rain would have been able to see his daughter__'__s cub_, Skywise thought sadly as Treestump began to speak.

In a steady, but husky voice, Treestump told the tale to his gathered tribe mates. He told of the strange, unnatural scent that had left a foul taste in the mouths of each member of the hunting party; of the sense of danger constantly following them, just out of arrow range; of how the drums from the human camps said that even the Tall Ones were frightened. He spoke of how Bearclaw had kept the hunting party out all night, hoping to find what terrible thing had its eyes fixed on them so relentlessly.

But when he came to the attack, he faltered. Only for a moment, but his gaze was enough to tell Rainsong the worst and she buried her head in Woodlock's shoulder and began to weep silently. Pike's eyes widened and Woodlock reached out his free arm to pull his mate's brother into their embrace.

"I'm sorry, Rainsong, Pike," Treestump said. "And for you, Nightfall."

Nightfall looked like she had been struck in the chest by a charging bear. Redlance quickly gathered her to him. "Father? Mother?" she asked.

Treestump looked at her helplessly.

"Not… not both?" the stunned elf maid pleaded.

"I would give anything in this world to tell you otherwise, sweet cub," Treestump said, "but I'm afraid they're both gone. Rain was the first to fall and so we saw it happen, but four more were missing when the attack was over. Longbranch, Brownberry, Foxfur and," Treestump hesitated, his voice breaking ever so slightly on the last name, "Joyleaf."

Even those already grieving felt fresh pain at that. The loss of their chief's mate left a gaping hole in the entire tribe. While Bearclaw lead them in battle and made decisions as to what needed to be done for the tribe's survival, Joyleaf had been the one to take special interest in each tribe member, always making sure they were well. Bearclaw had kept them alive, but Joyleaf had been the one to see they were happy.

Treestump went on to describe the attack - though not in great detail, mostly only making a point of warning them of Madcoil's cruel ability to torture them by sending, so the tribe would be warned in the case that they needed to face the creature again - and Skywise's numbed mind finally realized why Treestump was telling the story instead of sharing it by lock send: to spare the tribe the terrible images - both real and sent - that the three survivors shared.

The tribe absorbed the story in a state of shock. "What about Bearclaw and Cutter?" Strongbow finally asked.

Archer and temporary chief shared a look and suddenly the words that had been tormenting Skywise the day before fell into place.

_Either do as I say or send me to Joyleaf__'__s side! I don__'__t care which. (1)_

_If we don__'__t come back, you are chief! Take the tribe far away from here._

Bearclaw wasn't planning on coming back. He wished to die, to be with Joyleaf. And Cutter… oh, High Ones! Without him to watch his back, his soul-brother would throw his life away in an instant if he thought it would save the tribe.

_Scorch your wayward rump, brother! I will curse you forever if you don__'__t come back!_

_-x-_

Silence and stillness came instinctively to the Wolfriders, even in the midst of great loss. They would howl when the time came, but otherwise it was not in their natures to wail or sob loudly, nor shout or demand answers from the unseen High Ones. This inherent restraint was useful in that it kept them hidden from their enemies, but until their pain could be released in the mournful howl they used to express their grief as one, it often left a heavy and sorrowful atmosphere.

Except for Treestump, who was doing his best to organize the tribe's defence and console those who needed it most, talking was limited to the occasional hushed whispers between life mates and the soft sound of one or two elves weeping. At Treestump's request, some migrated to the trees to keep watch alongside Scouter and Dewshine (already at their posts through Treestump's account), but the rest of the tribe seemed to want to stay where they were, for which Skywise was grateful.

For it was hard, looking around at the different groups gathered there - Redlance with Nightfall, Woodlock with Rainsong and Pike, Clearbrook with One-Eye. Strongbow had relieved Scouter so that he keep watch next to his lovemate and console her over the loss of her aunt Joyleaf, who had been a second mother to her after the death of Rillfisher. Meanwhile, the tribe's chief archer himself had been joined on his perch by his mate, their tiny son gathered in her arms. Seeing all of them together, it struck the stargazer hard that all of those with whom he had had the deepest ties were now missing or gone from him.

"Are you well, Skywise?" a soft voice asked, surprising him.

Skywise looked up. "Oh, Clearbrook. I… I'm… no… yes…" He stopped and stared at her helplessly.

She climbed down to him and then bent over to tenderly kiss him on the top of his head, just like she'd done when he'd been a small cub. Tears pricked at his eyes, so touched was he by this gesture.

"Come with me, Skywise. One-Eye refuses to rest and Dewshine has asked Scouter to den with her and Treestump tonight, so I am going to stay with Redlance and Nightfall. Come be with us."

"Are you sure Nightfall won't mind? Maybe she won't want too many around her. And are you sure One-Eye won't need you? He hasn't said a thing about Longbranch yet. "

Clearbrook looked at him sadly. _*Hush, cubling,* _she sent. _*If our presence pains Nightfall, you may come to my den. As for One-Eye, he will come to me when he needs to. Have no worry on that score. Come now, let me help you up.*_

His head had stopped aching so badly, but he was still exhausted enough to be thankful for her arm around him as the two went to join the others.

_-x- _

His body jerked and his eyes flew open.

"Are you all right, Skywise?"

How many times had he heard that question in the last two days? Almost as many times as someone had called him "cub" he supposed. Funny how that seemed so natural right now, even comforting.

"Is that you, Nightfall?"

"Yes."

He sat up slowly and saw her sitting by the entrance to Redlance's den. "Are you… how are you feeling?"

She shrugged, but from the quick way she turned her head away and the way her jaw tightened, Skywise got the feeling she didn't want to answer because if she didn't hold everything in, the pain would break her.

He knew the feeling.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, changing the subject. "Moonshade brought some deer meat and fresh water for us all. She and Dart decided to stay," she said, nodding towards the slumbering figures on the other side of a sleeping Redlance. "I don't think she wanted to be alone either. Anyway, take all the food you need. We've all had some and Clearbrook has already taken some to One-Eye."

"Is she with him now?"

"Yes."

"Well, that's some good at least," he said. "Maybe she can convince him and Treestump to get some rest."

"You didn't answer my question, you know."

"Eh?"

"Are you all right?" she asked again. "You looked like you were having a nightmare."

"Sort of." He went over to side beside her and they both gazed out at the approaching dusk.

"What does that mean?"

"I was remembering… the sendings."

"The ones from… _it_."

"Yes."

"Oh."

There was nothing to say to that. _Everyone is having trouble finding words today,_ he thought to himself. _They're either too sad or stumble-tongued, or both._ So instead the two simply sat and watched the sky turn pink and the sun sink behind the trees.

"Skywise?" Nightfall after awhile.

"Yes?"

"What's it like being an orphan?"

The question took him by surprise. He looked at her tawny eyes, so filled with sorrow, and tried to answer. "I… I don't know what to tell you, Nightfall. I've never had parents, so I can't really tell you what losing them is like. I just don't… I don't know."

She nodded sadly, accepting that.

"Skywise?" she asked a few moments later. "Do you think Cutter is coming back?"

"I don't know that either."

Nightfall took his hand and leaned against him. Tears streaked down both of their cheeks as they waited for the stars to come out.

* * *

><p><em>1) Again, quoted directly from "Wolfsong".<em>


	3. Chapter 3

_Nina and Lunakat: Thank you so much for your kind reviews! It's a touch nerve-wracking to write for a new fandom, and then to post to it when you've never done so much as join in a forum discussion or even given a review before, so it feels good to have such a nice welcome. I'm glad you're both enjoying the story, and I hope everyone else reading it is as well. _

_And Lunakat, thank you for your comment about Foxfur. I had already planned something along those lines to come in a later chapter, but what you said caused me to read things over again and re-focus the story a bit. I'm hoping the eventual ending will be a little more streamlined now. Anyway, there's a bit about her here, but more will come later._

**Chapter 3**

The nights that followed were ones of hard waiting for the tribe. It was if everyone was holding their breath; dread and expectation put their nerves on edge in a way they were not used to. Battles with the humans tended to arise quickly, sparking out of nowhere like a brush fire in a patch of dried moss, with none of this waiting, this awful anticipation. Even with planned raids or skirmishes, they were used to taking action, usually holding off no longer than it took to scout the humans' camp, not waiting for disaster to come to them whenever it would. This… helplessness was new to them. They circled around the Holt, stalking, searching, eyes high for nothing they could see, in the same way they each circled around their own inner pain: tense and wary, wanting to get it over with, but unwilling to approach it, afraid to surrender to it while there future was so uncertain. How would they go on without their tribe mates? Would their chief and his cub return? Would Madcoil find the Holt? Would they have to leave their home, and, if so, where would they go?

And, most terrifying of all, would there be more deaths? Would even the tribe itself survive?

There was a constant knot in Skywise's heart. He ached to grieve for Longbranch, who had entertained him with so many stories as a cub and who had listened to him talk about the stars when no one else would. For Brownberry, who had been so fierce and fiery, and who would defend you to the end, be it in battle or merely in argument. For Rain, who had nursed him through fevers, healed his bumps and scrapes and been more like a father to him than any other elf. For Joyleaf, more like a mother than any other elf and the only elf he remembered ever crying over him.

And for Foxfur…

For the last eight of days, he had avoided the den they had shared, instead staying with Redlance and Nightfall, or One-Eye and Clearbrook, or even once with Treestump when Dewshine was with Scouter. It was just so… empty._ He_ was so empty. Some days he thought that if a longtooth were to tear his chest open, it would find nothing but a dark, hollow hole. Other days, it was if there was a lump in his throat that he just could not swallow down.

However, every day he had pushed these thoughts away. He couldn't face them, not when the tribe had to be protected or when Cutter, who might still be alive, might need him.

But this morning he sat in their den with his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them, staring at the still green leaves on the trees outside. Scents that should have reassured were all around: sun-warmed pine needles, the green-blue smell of water from the stream that ran through the Holt, the tart smell of nearly ripe dream berries - but none of them meant anything to him. As he sat, he tried to think of Foxfur, but he had pushed his feelings away for so many days now they would not come to him when he willed them, and that knot in his heart would not loosen, no matter how hard he tried.

_-x-_

When the message, howled across the vast forest from wolf to wolf, finally came, the tribe leaped and cried out for joy! One of theirs at least was still alive and the battle - finally - was here to be fought!

By the time the sun had reached its highest point on the second day after they had left the Holt, they arrived at the clearing where Madcoil had attacked. Those who had not been there with them looked upon it with grave faces. Some bent down to touch the ground, as if they might find one last faint trace of their loved ones, one last lingering touch of a soul's release. After, they went on and before sunset they had tracked the winding trail left by Bearclaw and Cutter as they had stalked the monster and found their chief's cub sitting on a rock, waiting with a stony-faced silence that raised their hackles and caused their hearts to sink into their stomachs.

Treestump made a hearty show of trying to sound normal, but even he hesitated in the face of Cutter's unnerving lack of expression. "Well..uh…we're here! That is… all of us who were able…"

_Please, Treestump, stop, _Skywise pleaded inwardly. _Can__'__t you see?_

"Uh… Woodlock's looking after Moonshade and Rainsong. They - " (1)

"Bearclaw's dead."

There, it was said. Cutting swiftly and cleanly, their young pack brother, now chief, had pronounced it with no faltering, no fear, no trying to coat the words with honey to make them more palatable. It was what the tribe needed. Their jaws tightened with misery and shock, and Dewshine put a hand to her face, but their were no tears from any of them. It was not time for that.

They all watched as Treestump, now the eldest in the tribe, tied the chief's lock in Cutter's hair, and asked, "What is your will, my Chief?"

Chief. His brother was chief. Worry and pride churned in equal measure within Skywise's chest, along with a strange helplessness as he listened to this new Cutter, stranger to him, lay out his plan to defeat Madcoil. He had known this day would come eventually, but not so soon. If he felt like the forest floor had just dropped out from under him in a ground-shake, how must Cutter feel? And what could he do to make it easier for him? His first instinct was to speak to his brother as he always had, to ask him if he was all right, but Cutter was thinking like a chief now and Skywise knew he had to keep doing so. At this moment, a consoling friend was needed less than an obedient tribe member, and worse, might even be a distraction. Skywise did not want to injure either Cutter's focus or his new authority just when his chief-friend needed most to take action. So he stayed close but vowed not to divert Cutter's attention with any need of his.

He failed only once. Just before Cutter went to draw Madcoil out of its den, he tried to reassure his tribe, telling them it would be just like catching a bear. Skywise's worried response that Madcoil was worse than eight bears and they couldn't lose him too went out before he could stop it. Cursing himself as Cutter moved off, he begged the High Ones not to let his nervousness shake his brother from what he needed to do, but there was little time to dwell on it. A handful of heartbeats later, plain, numbing fear for Cutter's safety took over, nearly killing him in the eternity between the luring out and slaying of Madcoil. And when Cutter struck the blow, plunging New Moon deep into the beast's great eye, Skywise rolled off Madcoil's leg to the ground even more boneless with reaction than Cutter himself.

Madcoil was dead.

It was done.

* * *

><p><em>1) Treestump's words quoted directly from "Wolfsong".<em>


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4**_

After Madcoil had been slain, they cut off the beast's head and took it to the humans as a goodwill gesture (1). Then the exhausted, emotionally shattered tribe made their slow, weary way back to the Holt and, finally, Howled for their six lost pack mates.

Time passed. The moon waxed and waned and came full circle. As Long-sun ended, and the forest moved into the season of Death-sleep, life slowly returned to something almost like before. Daily tasks, and even relationships, shifted to compensate for the gaping holes left by their missing brothers and sisters, but the familiar rituals of hunting and preparing for the White-cold were helping them to find a new balance.

Nightfall began to den permanently with Redlance. Pike, however, in light of the imminent arrival of his sister's cub, opted to return to the den he had shared with his father. Sometimes Scouter and Dewshine would den with him, but other days he seemed content to be alone.

That first morning after the Howl, Skywise had caught Cutter staring up at the Father Tree, hollowed eyes locked onto the entrance of the den he had shared with Bearclaw and Joyleaf. As the stargazer had watched, the young chief had girded himself to the task, climbed the Father Tree and went in. Waiting a few moments, Skywise had then clambered down from his branch to join him.

"I never realized it was so… big… in here," Cutter had said, sensing who was behind him.

Skywise had bit his lip and fidgeted, till Cutter turned to look at him. "Well… I meant to ask you… only I'm still finding Foxfur's and my den kind of empty, and I think Redlance and Nightfall would like some privacy… uh, would you mind if I… ?"

The relieved smile that had crossed Cutter's face had made him seem very young.

Later, as they had been about to go to sleep, Skywise had congratulated himself on finding a way to give Cutter the company he needed without making the younger elf ask for it himself.

_You look after the tribe, brother, _he had vowed to himself, _and I__'__ll look after you._

_-x-_

The close air of the previous few days had given way to rain when Skywise found himself growing inexplicably restless.

Cutter's mood had been heavy lately; Skywise sensed that his friend was subdued not just by loss, but by the intimidating task of leading the tribe. The new responsibilities, the worry of making a mistake that might lead to some unknown hardship for those he would lead, the isolation brought about by these new burdens and the shift in the way the others saw him - they all weighed heavily on his friend's young shoulders.

As for the tribe, they did their best to help, of course, and not for Cutter's sake alone. But there were times when, craving the security of someone strong to lead them, they looked at him as nothing but chief, and other times when they saw him as nothing but a cub and turned him around so much with all of their advice and suggestions they nearly made him dizzy.

So Skywise did his best to be there for his brother. He offered advice if it was asked for, but not otherwise. During those rare moments when they were alone and Cutter did not have to concentrate on some problem, Skywise would tell all the funny stories he could in hopes of washing the now perpetually grave expression off of Cutter's face, and in their den he would do his best to speak to Cutter not as tagalong cub or chief, but as brother to brother, so that Cutter could be himself for at least a little while.

But what he mostly did was listen as Cutter shared his burdens, his worries and his fears. Skywise wished he could change things, but realized it would do no good to say so; leading the tribe was Cutter's responsibility now, and sympathizing unduly would only exaggerate the onerousness of the obligations in his mind, eventually making them even harder. Instead, Skywise tried to lighten the load by doing whatever Cutter needed him to do without hesitation. He hunted and fished and gathered berries and cap-nuts to replenish their stores, he scraped furs for Moonshade's tanning even though that was usually a chore he avoided like he would a weasel with foaming sickness, and he kept watch whenever asked, even at night when he would have much rather been off somewhere looking at the stars.

However, this morning something was biting at him. He kicked off his sleeping furs in frustration.

"Skywise!" Cutter protested sleepily beside him. "I'm exhausted. Pull that burr out of your tail and settle down."

"Sorry, Cutter. I can't get to sleep. My muscles are itching to run. I think I'll go out for a hunt."

"Won't get much in the rain," Cutter mumbled, his eyes already closed again.

"Doesn't matter," Skywise told him as he pulled on his leathers. "It's the air I want today, not the chase."

"Don't go too far."

Skywise bristled at the restraint for less than a heartbeat; he hadn't always liked it when Bearclaw had given the same order either, but he knew it would only add to Cutter's worries if he went too far outside the Holt. And it would be even worse now, when the young chief was still uncertain and feeling his way in his new authority.

"Not to worry, my chief," Skywise told him. "I won't go outside our boundaries." Cutter made some kind of consenting murmur, which made Skywise chuckle.

Waving to Strongbow at watch, Skywise sent to his wolf-friend. _*Starjumper? Want to hunt?*_ But the wolf was curled up with the rest of the pack and very happy to stay where it was warm and dry.

_*Lazybones* _Skywise sent affectionately and set off alone with his bow, going in the direction of Sun-goes-down but with no destination in mind.

The rain pattered on the leaves, drumming against his skull and plastering his hair to his face, but he grinned all the same, walking faster and faster and finally breaking into a run. It felt wonderful! He didn't want to admit it, but he'd been feeling very confined lately and it was nice to have some time to himself with nothing to do.

He turned north without thinking. Far off he could see a lone cliff rising above the trees, a feature of the land that the Wolfriders used as a familiar landmark to mark the edge of their territory.

_Well, I told Cutter I wouldn__'__t go outside our boundaries, I didn__'__t say I wouldn__'__t go to the brink of them. _

It was poor reasoning and he knew it, and it made him hesitate for a moment, but this rediscovered freedom was too hard to resist. He hadn't realized how gloomy he'd been feeling since the attack.

And the cliff was a favourite place of his. He liked anyplace high, where he could be closer to the stars, and even in the daytime the view was wonderful - lush, green forest as far as the eye could see.

But there was also a clear stream at the bottom, between cliff and woods. It was shallow and there weren't many fish in it, so the rest of the tribe didn't often came here, but it was pretty. The cliff above rose out to meet the tree-tops at one part, making a high-ceilinged cave of sorts, cosy but still sunny and cheerful, and the water made a soothing, burbling sound where the spring came out of the rock. At the bottom of the cliff were bits of shale - for which his father had been named - and there were even small milky-pink sparkle stones to be found if you looked hard enough. (2)

_Foxfur had loved those_, he remembered with a sad smile. After dream berry patches, the cliff had been one of their favourite places to be alone together.

He was almost there when he saw the black forms in the sky. Carrion birds, circling despite the weather. Curious, but not alarmed, he moved in cautiously, taking more pains to be stealthy. _It__'__d be just my luck to stumble on to some cursed Five-finger, _he thought, _Or a bear, wounded but still strong enough to be a pain in my rump._

It was a wolf.

Its fur was so tangled with burrs and twigs, and so caked with dripping clumps of mud, that the animal's colouring was almost impossible to determine, but if Skywise had had to guess he would have said its coat was reddish-brown. It lay right next to the stream, in a shallow part, so that one side of its head was wet, but its nose and muzzle weren't under the water. As he watched, he saw it make a few feeble flicks of its tongue, trying to lap up enough to drink.

Slowly, he stepped closer towards it.

It was badly wounded. The eye facing upwards was gone, and the bone of the socket around it looked crushed, though it was hard to tell with the amount of encrusted blood clotting the spot over. But that was not the deepest wound. A ragged slash cut through and down its - hers, he could see now - her side from just behind the one foreleg to the underbelly close to the tail. As bad as it was though, the worst was that the wound itself might have healed if it had been seen to, but left untended, it had festered badly. The smell of it alone told him there was no longer any hope.

He edged up closer, one soft step at a time. Even for a Wolfrider, a wounded wolf was not a danger to be taken lightly.

_*Don__'__t be afraid, poor sister. I__'__m a friend. I won__'__t hurt you* _he soothed by wolf-send.

She didn't even twitch, let alone raise her head. Her harsh, panting breathing even change.

But she sent. _*Fox-fur friend?* _

_Oh, High Ones, _he moaned. It was his love mate's wolf-friend, Cedarbark.

* * *

><p><em>1) From "Wolfrider!"<em>

_2) I don't know much about rocks, but I'm picturing the World of Two Moons equivalent of quartz._

_Also, I don't know the name of Foxfur's wolf, or even if it had one, so I named her Cedarbark because in one panel of Wolfsong she looks reddish-brown and it reminded me of the type of cedar trees around where I live. Truthfully, I don't even know if the Wolfriders have similar names for their trees, other than maybe oak. (I believe Tanner was originally called Oakroot in one comic.)_

_But if anyone does know what Foxfur's wolf was called, please feel free to tell me and I'll correct it._


	5. Chapter 5

**_Chapter 5_**

With a sinking heart, Skywise approached Cedarbark and knelt beside her. He held out his hand and she nuzzled it weakly, inhaling his scent. Then he lifted it to stroke her head, all the while telling her by wolf-send that he was here to help and all would be well.

_The wound is very bad, _he thought to himself.

Foxfur and Cedarbark had bonded when he'd still been a young cub, a few Turns before he'd even bonded with Starjumper. Without parents or playmates, he'd often been a lonely cub and had loved rolling and romping about with the little red-brown wolf cub, telling her his secrets, crying into her fur over some pain he couldn't even remember, riding on her with Foxfur when she got bigger.

_It__'__s festered. And who knows what poison was in Madcoil._

Starjumper had loved playing with her too. She'd been like a big sister, like Rainsong with Pike, and yet she'd still be young enough to chase him with cub-like abandon in their wolf games.

_It couldn__'__t be healed, even if Rain wasn__'__t__…_

He stroked her head until she closed her eyes. His breath shuddered in his chest and tears ran down his cheeks, leaving hot and burning tracks on his skin, even in the rain.

_She__'__s in pain. _

He drew his sword.

It was the right thing to do, the only thing.

But it was like killing the last part of Fox-fur.

_-x-_

In the end, he moved her remains to a shaded clearing not far from the stream. He hadn't wanted to take her far away - in her weakened state she must have instinctively come to a place that was familiar and maybe even loved - but neither had it felt right to just leave her lying there with her head half in and out of the water. Besides, once the other animals had taken what they would of her, what was left would return to the soil much easier with the soft ground he'd found for her, than it would on the stones near the stream.

But it was an exhausting job for a lone, grieving elf and so it was well into the night by the time his weary footsteps carried him back to the Holt.

Voices came to him through the trees; his tribe was up and about, and that stopped him. Not yet ready for company, he quickly turned before anyone could sense him and headed away from the Father Tree. The rain had stopped and any clear sky automatically drew the stargazer's gaze upwards. Without a thought, his path turned in the direction of one of his favourite star-watching spots. He'd only gone a few strides, though, when a soft _snuff_ and a welcome scent told him he'd have some company at least. Sudden tears pricked at his eyes once more as Starjumper came to him and licked his hand.

Skywise bent over the wolf, wrapping his arms tightly around Starjumper's neck. _*Oh, my friend, I__'__m so glad to see you,* _he sent.

_*Friend hurt?* _Starjumper asked, sniffing him in concern.

_*Only in my heart, dear friend,* _Skywise reassured him. _*Will you come and look at the stars with me?*_

Even as he asked it, Skywise knew he hadn't needed to. His beloved wolf-friend brushed against him as if to say, "Let's go," and the two set off together, only to be stopped a moment later by Cutter's voice.

"Skywise, is that you? Where have you been?" the young chief demanded as he strode up to them.

"I'm sorry, Cutter. I - "

"Well, you should be!" Cutter snapped, and Skywise could see his friend was in a fine snit. "How could you just take off all day and half the night? Don't you know there are things to do?"

_Not just in a snit, _Skywise realized. _Worried, too. Worried and not wanting to show it. _"I didn't mean to be gone so long but - "

"Don't you know - " Cutter interrupted, but paused to rub a hand over tired eyes. He began again, voice quieter but just as angry, "Don't you know how much I already have to deal with? Do you think I want to have to worry about you too?"

"Cutter, I - "

"I just don't know how you could be so selfish!"

Skywise bristled. "Selfish?"

"Don't you think I've lost enough loved ones?"

Skywise's keen eyes saw the exhaustion and tension radiating from every clenched muscle of the younger elf's body, and his sudden prickliness blew away as quickly as it had blown in as his heart went out to his chief. "Cutter, come and look at the stars with me," he asked. "It's been ages since we did it last."

"For High One's sake, Skywise! I don't have time to look at the stars with you! I've got a tribe to look after now."

"And if you're going to be any good to them at all, you're going to have to take your ease some time, brother!"

"Skywise… "

"Puckernuts, Cutter! The only cub in the tribe is Dart; everyone else is old enough to see to themselves for half a night."

Cutter shook his head. "Skywise, you don't understand - "

"Yes I do, Cutter. You think you have to be alert every moment of the day, or the tribe won't take you seriously, that they'll say you're too young and irresponsible for the task. And when you're not thinking that, you're afraid to turn your head for an instant because you think something bad will happen if you do and you'll lose someone else. But brother, you're going to run yourself ragged if you keep up this pace, and then where will the tribe be? Not to mention, that if you don't stop sitting on us every moment, soon enough the tribe'll be biting at each other and snapping at the air like mad wolves."

"You think I'm doing a bad job? Is that it?" Cutter growled.

"No!" Skywise protested. "That's not what I meant at all!"

Cutter's shoulders slumped; he looked defeated. "Do you think it's easy? Don't you think I wish Bearclaw was still alive? That Joyleaf was still here to talk to? Everyone is looking to me to tell them what to do, and I don't even know myself! And I've got no one to help me."

"So I'm no one?" Skywise asked. "Cutter, you foolish cub, you've got _me! _And you've got the whole tribe. Do you really think we won't help you?"

"It's not that easy, Skywise. A chief has to _lead_. The tribe needs the security of someone there to see that they're safe, to have the answers and tell them what to do when something happens. A chief can't go running to his tribemates every time something goes wrong! If he does, then they won't have enough confidence in him to follow when he needs them to, and then he won't be able to keep them together. " Cutter turned and started to walk away. "Oh, what's the use? _You_ don't have any idea what it's like to be so alone!"

Skywise stiffened, the blood running out of his face. "_What?_"

Cutter looked back.

"How…How could you say that to me?" Skywise asked in a broken voice.

Cutter took a step towards him, a flicker of puzzlement crossing his face. "Skywise?"

But Skywise backed away, unwilling to let Cutter touch him. Starjumper's ears pricked up as he sensed his elf-friend's hurt, but he whined with confusion - this was Skywise's friend! But Skywise didn't care; jaw clenched, quivering with abrupt rage, he glared at his chief.

_*Fahr?* _Cutter sent, fearful now, knowing something had suddenly spun horribly out of control here, but not knowing what.

Skywise lunged and knocked Cutter off his feet, pinning him to the ground. The younger elf, too stunned to fight, stared up at him, his eyes widening as he saw that Skywise was weeping.

_*HOW! HOW?* _Skywise's sobbing thought-voice demanded in fury, _*HOW IS IT YOU CAN KNOW MY SOUL NAME AND YET KNOW SO LITTLE ABOUT ME?* _

_*Br__…__brother? I - I - * _ But, shocked by tremendous pain in his soul-brother's sending, nothing came to Cutter.

Skywise leapt off of him and rushed to Starjumper. He was aback the wolf and gone before his young chief even knew what had happened.


End file.
